Comments on: Killing Creativity http://www.simpleandloveable.com/killing-creativity How to make Simple and Loveable businesses Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:19:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: olivier blanchard http://www.simpleandloveable.com/killing-creativity/comment-page-#comment-2522 olivier blanchard Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://simpleandloveable.com/killing-creativity#comment-2522 See? You aren't alone. True story: These guys I know were looking for a name for a band they were putting together. They tossed names around for days, but weren't getting anywhere. The harder they worked on it, the worse things got. Finally, they decided to take a break, grab some coffee with me, and get their minds off the problem at hand. We started talking about movies, smoothie flavors, food coloring, and a bagful of other completely unrelated topics. Twenty minutes into this little break, we "accidentally" came up with the perfect name. (All irony aside, we were trying to find a cool name for a smoothie - not a band.) We knew we'd hit gold when a guy who was just hanging out a table away chimed in and said "hey, that would be an awesome name for a band." Jackpot. More often than not, our brains need playtime in order to construct something new and cool and smart. They aren't "breaks". They're trips to the inspiration well. To the muse's garden. To the creative oasis of the mind. Play tends to unveil patterns obscured by excessive focus and concentration. It oxygenates the brain. It allows patterns to emerge on their own. It relaxes your point of view enough to make you flexible and open to new solutions and ideas. Einstein didn't come up with his theory of relativity at his desk. It came to him while he was riding a bike. There's a big lesson in that. Nobody ever said that work and play were mutually exclusive. See? You aren’t alone.

True story: These guys I know were looking for a name for a band they were putting together. They tossed names around for days, but weren’t getting anywhere. The harder they worked on it, the worse things got. Finally, they decided to take a break, grab some coffee with me, and get their minds off the problem at hand.

We started talking about movies, smoothie flavors, food coloring, and a bagful of other completely unrelated topics. Twenty minutes into this little break, we “accidentally” came up with the perfect name. (All irony aside, we were trying to find a cool name for a smoothie – not a band.)

We knew we’d hit gold when a guy who was just hanging out a table away chimed in and said “hey, that would be an awesome name for a band.”

Jackpot.

More often than not, our brains need playtime in order to construct something new and cool and smart. They aren’t “breaks”. They’re trips to the inspiration well. To the muse’s garden. To the creative oasis of the mind.

Play tends to unveil patterns obscured by excessive focus and concentration. It oxygenates the brain. It allows patterns to emerge on their own. It relaxes your point of view enough to make you flexible and open to new solutions and ideas.

Einstein didn’t come up with his theory of relativity at his desk. It came to him while he was riding a bike. There’s a big lesson in that.

Nobody ever said that work and play were mutually exclusive.

]]> By: Gavin Heaton http://www.simpleandloveable.com/killing-creativity/comment-page-#comment-2526 Gavin Heaton Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://simpleandloveable.com/killing-creativity#comment-2526 Speaking of 4 hour work days, check out Sharon Sarmiento's efforts ... http://sharonsarmiento.typepad.com/esoup_the_small_business_/2006/09/4hour_workdaywh.html You know, the inspirational stuff, the web surfing, online mooching etc can be just the thing that helps you find that break-through idea. But it is MUCH harder in a small business, where every hour that you dont bill hits your wallet. But I bet you wouldn't choose an alternative way of working! Or would you ...? Speaking of 4 hour work days, check out Sharon Sarmiento’s efforts …
http://sharonsarmiento.typepad.com/esoup_the_small_business_/2006/09/4hour_workdaywh.html
You know, the inspirational stuff, the web surfing, online mooching etc can be just the thing that helps you find that break-through idea. But it is MUCH harder in a small business, where every hour that you dont bill hits your wallet. But I bet you wouldn’t choose an alternative way of working! Or would you …?

]]> By: Mark McGuinness http://www.simpleandloveable.com/killing-creativity/comment-page-#comment-2527 Mark McGuinness Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://simpleandloveable.com/killing-creativity#comment-2527 When I was a student I had a summer job in the proverbial widget factory (actually a chimney factory), and hard as the work was, the most difficult job of all was 'looking busy' on a Friday afternoon - the machines had to be switched off and run down before we left, so we had about 10 minutes at the end of the day where we had to look as though we were doing something useful in case the supervisor was watching... It took more imagination than the rest of the week put together. Olivier, you're absolutely right about taking a break/change of scene for creativity - I blogged about it here a while ago: <a href="http://www.wishfulthinking.co.uk/blog/2006/06/29/the-thinkubator-and-other-creative-environments/">creative environments</a> When I was a student I had a summer job in the proverbial widget factory (actually a chimney factory), and hard as the work was, the most difficult job of all was ‘looking busy’ on a Friday afternoon – the machines had to be switched off and run down before we left, so we had about 10 minutes at the end of the day where we had to look as though we were doing something useful in case the supervisor was watching… It took more imagination than the rest of the week put together.

Olivier, you’re absolutely right about taking a break/change of scene for creativity – I blogged about it here a while ago: creative environments

]]> By: Nat http://www.simpleandloveable.com/killing-creativity/comment-page-#comment-2532 Nat Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://simpleandloveable.com/killing-creativity#comment-2532 You're right. I didn't really give that a term, but I do have the 'get the post sorted', 'get the blog done' tasks that I reeeaaaallly enjoy when motivation is lagging on the tough stuff. Man I need to read that book! You're right. I didn't really give that a term, but I do have the 'get the post sorted', 'get the blog done' tasks that I reeeaaaallly enjoy when motivation is lagging on the tough stuff. Man I need to read that book!

]]> By: Rob http://www.simpleandloveable.com/killing-creativity/comment-page-#comment-2551 Rob Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://simpleandloveable.com/killing-creativity#comment-2551 David Allen's "Getting Things Done" systems focus on having tasks ready in different contexts... eg. list of things to read, list of calls to make, list of errands to run, list of things to look up on the net... Anyway, what it means is you can sit down and go "hey, i can't be bothered doing yucky boring [MYOB], maybe I should surf the net". Your list helps you achieve things in that time. Blogs always make it on my things-to-read list though :) David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” systems focus on having tasks ready in different contexts… eg. list of things to read, list of calls to make, list of errands to run, list of things to look up on the net…

Anyway, what it means is you can sit down and go “hey, i can’t be bothered doing yucky boring [MYOB], maybe I should surf the net”. Your list helps you achieve things in that time.

Blogs always make it on my things-to-read list though :)

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